Chad’s Morning Brief: Is There A Deal to End the Shutdown?, Dewhurst Calls for Obama’s Impeachment, and Other Top Stories

Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of October 15, 2013. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am. Remember, you can listen online at KFYO.com or on your iPhone/Android with the radioPup App.

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Almost Over?

Yesterday afternoon we started to hear rumblings out of Washington that a deal to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling was in the works. By last night we began to hear about the details and friends, it’s not a good deal for Republicans. Here is what the framework looks like according to Roll Call:

The emerging plan would reopen the government until Jan. 15, 2014, and extend the debt limit into February — but it would not address the medical device tax, which many Republicans and Democrats would like to repeal.

A source familiar with the negotiations explained that Majority Leader Harry Reid pushed to get the repeal of the tax removed from the negotiations. The Nevada Democrat has been a vocal opponent of repealing the excise tax, at one point calling the idea “stupid” at a news conference.

The White House also pushed back against including a medical device tax rollback in the deal.

It appeared likely that the deal would punt the question of turning off automatic spending cuts, known as the sequester, to another round of budget talks, with a deadline of Dec. 15. But under one proposal, if the sequester came into effect there would be increased flexibility to deal with it.

Nothing’s finalized and things could change as talks continue, however. Senate Republicans had been expected to meet Monday evening, but that was delayed until late Tuesday morning due to concerns about attendance.

It looks like talks are leading toward including a requirement that the Health and Human Services Department certify that the agency is able to verify the incomes of those receiving subsidies to buy health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges.

That win for Senate Republicans would be paired with a Democratic victory in delaying a scheduled reinsurance tax under Obamacare that would hit in 2014 and run for three calendar years in order to create a pool of reserve funds for insurance company losses.

Insurers in the exchanges are required to cover higher-risk individuals (such as those with pre-existing conditions). Unions had pushed for that delay.

It amounts to $63 per covered individual.

“The statute requires all health insurance issuers and third-party administrators on behalf of self-insured group health plans to make contributions under this program to support payments to individual market issuers that cover high-cost individuals (payment-eligible issuers),” the Internal Revenue Service said in a fact sheet explaining that tax.

In a nutshell, no wins at all for the Republicans. Though some may think that the income verification point is a win, Erick Erickson at RedState.com correctly points out that it is already part of the law.

This is a bad deal for Republicans and for the American people. Will Republicans stand up and fight? Or will they read the polls and buy into the media hype that the GOP is falling apart? I have my prediction, what’s yours?

Dewhurst Wants Obama Impeached

At the Tarrant County Tea Party candidate forum, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said that President Obama should be impeached. According to the Texas Tribune, Dewhurst says that Obama should be impeached for his overreach.

Dewhurst’s comments were first reported on Twitter by a reporter who was attending the event on behalf of The Texas Observer.Dewhurst said the president should be impeached for his overreach on issues like immigration and health care, as well as his behavior in the aftermath of a 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

The Tribune has reached out to the three candidates vying to replace Dewhurst and will update this story with their responses.

After the event, Travis Considine, Dewhurst’s spokesman, said in a statement that as a former CIA officer, the lieutenant governor is often asked about foreign policy issues on the campaign trail.

“He feels very strongly about the tragedy in Benghazi and has said that Congress should consider impeaching the President over the tragedy,” he said. “David Dewhurst also believes that President Obama should be held accountable for Washington’s failure to secure the border and the gross overreach of the federal government under Obamacare.”

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.

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